EXID 이엑스아이디, short for "Exceed In Dreaming," is a girl group formed in 2012. The group consists of five-members: Solji, LE, Hani, Hyelin, and Jeonghwa. They made their debut as a six-member group in February 2012, with the single "Whoz That Girl." Their first EP Hippity Hop was released in August 2012 to limited success. The group unexpectedly gained success after their 2014 single "Up & Down," which did not chart well upon initial release but reached number one on the Gaon Singles Chart four months later, when a fan-taken recording of one of EXID's performances of the song became a viral video. EXID released their second EP Ah Yeah in April 2015, to commercial success. Their first studio album, Street, was released in June 2016.

2011: Pre-debut

In May 2011, producer Shinsadong Tiger and AB Entertainment scouted several trainees from JYP Entertainment to form a new girl group. Trainee Yuji was the first to join when a JYP girl group failed to debut. Yuji contacted the trainees Hani, Haeryeong, and Junghwa to audition for AB Ent., and all three were subsequently accepted into the agency. The group added a fifth member when Shinsadong Tiger discovered LE, an underground rapper and songwriter who performed under the name Elly. Dami, who was already an AB trainee, was the sixth and last member added to the group. Originally named "WT," an acronym for "Who's That," the group changed their name to EXID a few months before their debut. In December 2011, LE was featured in Huh Gak's single "Whenever You Play That Song," which appeared on Korean music charts. EXID was scheduled to debut in January 2012, but their debut was delayed to February when LE sustained a leg injury during rehearsals. On February 3, AB Entertainment announced that EXID would debut with the single "Whoz That Girl." Video teasers featuring the members doing solo performances were subsequently released online.

Debut

EXID released their first single "Whoz That Girl" from the digital single album Holla on February 16, 2012. They made their debut performance on "M Countdown" and then performed on "Music Core" and "Inkigayo." Their debut song "Whoz That Girl" peaked at #36 on the Gaon Singles Chart and ultimately sold 840,000 digital copies.

In April 2012, AB Entertainment officially announced members Yuji, Dami, and Haeryeong's departure. The company said in a statement that Yuji and Dami had left the group to focus on their studies, while Haeryeong had left to pursue an acting career. They were replaced by Solji, a former member of vocal duo 2NB, and Hyelin, who had been considered for EXID's original lineup before she was dropped. With the new members, EXID returned in August 2012, with their second single "I Feel Good" from their first EP Hippity Hop. Hippity Hop debuted at #13 on the Gaon Albums Chart, selling 1,500 copies. EXID released the digital single "Every Night" in October. The title track is an alternate version of LE's self-written song "Phone Call" which was recorded in their debut EP. "Every Night" debuted at #43 on the Gaon Singles Chart, selling 105,000 digital copies.

On October 11, EXID released the song "Hey Boy" as part of the soundtrack release for MBC's sitcom "The Thousandth Man." The song is the female version of B1A4‘s song "Hey Girl." Producer Shinsadong Tiger rearranged the song into a "reggae style" to create a different approach from B1A4's original version. It was revealed on November 30 that EXID, along with Big Star and D-Unit, would release a collaboration album, in addition to doing a special year-end show. The concert, entitled "The Bugs Show Vol. 1," was held on December 22 at the V-Hall in the Hongdae area of Seoul. On December 6, EXID won the rookie award at the 20th Korea Culture & Entertainment Awards.

2013–14

In February 2013, EXID released the single "Up & Down" from the "Incarnation of Money" soundtrack. It was announced shortly afterwards that members Hani and Solji would form a sub-unit called "Dasoni." The sub-unit released their debut single "Goodbye" on February 15, with the B-side track "Said So Often."

In June 2014, EXID was announced to have signed an exclusive contract with Yedang Entertainment and was preparing a comeback in collaboration with producer Shinsadong Tiger. On August 24, EXID held their comeback showcase at the Ilchi Art Hall, performing their new song "Up & Down." The song was released on August 27 and initially charted poorly, failing to make it onto the top 100 of the Gaon Chart; though it peaked at #94 on the domestic chart. However, the song slowly gained popularity in early October after a fan-recorded video of member Hani performing the song went viral on Korean social networking websites. This led to the song shooting back up record charts, eventually climbing to the top 10 on the real-time charts and topping the Gaon Chart. Because of the success of the fancam, EXID was invited back onstage to promote despite the fact their promotions had ended months before. Due to this success, EXID returned to several music programs to promote "Up and Down." The song was subsequently nominated for a first place award on "Show! Music Core," "Inkigayo," and "M Countdown," where they took their first music show win since debut on January 8, 2015. The group won a second award at KBS's "Music Bank" on January 9 and a third one at SBS's "Inkigayo" on January 11.

2015

In February 2015, Solji participated in the pilot episode of MBC's singing competition program "King of Mask Singer." She became the first winner of the show, which drew a lot of attention to EXID. On April 13, the music video for the title song "Ah Yeah" from EXID's second mini album was released. The group won first place with "Ah Yeah" on both April 26 and May 3 episodes of SBS's "Inkigayo," as well as the April 29 and May 6 episodes of "Show Champion."

In May, the group made their first American performance at the Korean Music Festival in Los Angeles, California. EXID featured in their own season of the MBC Every1 reality show "Showtime" in July. That month, Junghwa also made her acting debut as the female lead in "Webtoon Hero Toondra Show," which also aired on MBC Every1.

On November 7, EXID won the MBC Music Star Award at the 2015 MelOn Music Awards. The music video for "Hot Pink" was released on November 17. "Hot Pink" was nominated for a first place award on various music programs. The group received their first win for "Hot Pink" on November 25 on "Show Champion," and their second win on December 6 on "Inkigayo."

2016-present

On June 1, 2016, the group released their first full-length studio album titled Street with the title track "L.I.E." On the 8th of June, EXID won first place with L.I.E. on "Show Champion," and not much later, they won first place twice on "Inkigayo" and "The Show" as well.

On December 20, 2016, EXID released their first Chinese single, "Cream," on QQ Music and YinYueTai. It charted #6 on Billboard China. A day later, Banana Culture announced that Solji had been diagnosed with hyperthyroidism and that she would halt all her activities for the awards season of 2016-17, while the remaining four members continued on. On January 10, 2017, the group released their second Chinese single, "Up & Down" (上下). On the same day of the song's release, an edited version of the music video for the Chinese version of "Up & Down" was uploaded to YouTube and the original was removed. Some Chinese fans had found EXID's dancing in the forbidden city to be inappropriate.

On January 15, member LE revealed that Solji was on her way to healing and that the songs for the new album were all ready. She revealed that it would be totally different from what they had released before. On February 1, EXID was revealed to be a part of the lineup for KCON Mexico and scheduled to perform at the Mexico City Arena on March 17, 2017. Insiders shared information that the group's comeback might be delayed to April due to Solji's health issues.

Trivia

The age gap between the eldest member, Solji, and the maknae, Junghwa, is 5 years, 10 months, and 28 days.

Hani and Junghwa both have a birthday in May, 7 days apart from different years.

Both Hani and Junghwa were born under the zodiac sign Taurus.

Hani and Junghwa have both attended Global Cyber University.

Solji and Hyerin share the blood type O.

LE and Hani are both blood type AB.

Junghwa is the only member with blood type A.

The height difference between the tallest member, Solji (170 cm or 5'7"), and the shortest member, Hani (163 cm or 5'4"), is 7 cm.

Hani and Junghwa are both from Gyeonggi-do.

Solji and Hani both speak Mandarin.

Lineup

Original Members
• LE
• Hani
• Jeonghwa

Added Members
• Solji - April 2012
• Hyerin - April 2012

Former Members
• Yuji - April 2012: left the group to focus on studies
• Dami - April 2012: left to focus on studies
• Haeryeong - April 2012: left to pursue an acting career